We're sitting in the same room as before, the one where we heard about the sad fate of Green Horst. Dear has finished with his report, though it wasn't much all in all. He met four barbarians that were about to kill Obert, who he fought and killed. He did find out that these were the four barbarians responsible for the destruction of Green Horst, so at least those deaths were avenged.
Grekk asked some questions about the clothes and items these barbarians wore: “The feather totem together with the area would make me think of the Northwind Clan. When I was younger, Brimm led them, and I guess his brat will now be the chieftain. Brimm was a coward who liked easy prey.”
Kenza inhales deeply, most likely concerned with being designated as 'easy prey', while Jahn raises his shoulders in indignation: “We'll show them that we're not easy prey!”
“Yeah, right.” Somehow this doesn't sound like Grekk is taking that seriously.
“Would taking a stand work?” Kenza asks the old barbarian, who has more experience than all of us together.
“Of course, it would,” he answers seriously: “the Northwind Clan does usually do more threat than harm. Those four may be a sign of a change in leadership, though.”
I speak up: “I have a question: I told Dear before that I believe that they will probably send a second group first to look what happened to the first one. That's what I learned about barbarians. Is that correct?”
“Yeah, probably ten actual warriors, with maybe one or two youths to train them.”
“Phew...” Dear takes the word: “What would happen if we kill all of them as well? Would they avoid this place?”
“Unlikely. That would be a challenge, and it could be another tribe, after all. They would most likely move camp even closer.”
“What if there was a returnee?”
“Then even more so to crush us for daring to stand up against them.”
“Is there any way to just make them stop? Sending them a message or so?”
“Won't work, I think.”
“What are you!? A bunch of battle-freaks!?”
“Yes, we are.”
“Phew...” I can see how much the exchange takes from Dear. He’s thinking of a way to minimize damage, but it seems to be fruitless. “Is there a way to force them to do what we want!?”
“...ah! A Trenvig!”
“What's that!?” I'm as confused as Dear.
“We barbarians fight against each other a lot. But we have a way to settle it without taking too many casualties. If it's clear that multiple battles won't solve the conflict and just takes more deaths than it's worth, we do a Trenvig. It's a series of three challenges, the Challenge of Champions, the Challenge of the Elders, and the Challenge of the Chieftains. Whoever wins two of them can ask the other tribe several things. Like half of the wealth. Or to avoid a certain place the other tribe claimed.”
“And they follow that?”
“Yeah, breaking a Trenvig is one of the few things we barbarians wouldn't do. Because it's part of what we are.”
“But the problem is that we're not a barbarian tribe.”
I have an idea! “Then let's make one! Or Grekk can welcome us to his!”
“You heard her, lad. Let's get married!”
Dear stands up, yelling at Grekk: “FUCK OFF!”
“But it's the only way to become a barbarian, kehehehe!”
“FUCK IT!”
“Dear?” I touch his arm, and he calms down a bit: “I think, this is just a joke? Also, two men can't get married.” The ritual only works with a husband and a wife, after all. With marriage, the spouses are divinely bound to each other, protecting their unborn offspring. Two men can't have babies with each other, so the thought is silly.
They still can be lovers, though.
“Well, we barbarians don't marry often anyway, so let's just become lovers, and we need Yenns to acknowledge it. Ah, that's the current chief. Hm... may be difficult to find him now, though. I think they're around the Lake Sea at this time?”
The Lake Sea is south of Déjuma, that's quite a distance. Also, it's really big, so ‘around the Lake Sea’ is not very accurate. “Dear? Sorry for suggesting it.”
“Phew... nah, was worth a try. Hm... boss-woman, here's something to think about: We'll probably be fine for a few days. Last chance for you to flee to a nearby town or so. While you decide what to do, we'll prepare on our own. Training you farmers won't do shit, there's too little time, but we're heroes and may be able to unlock some new [Skills] or such.”
“I don't know what you're speaking of, but thank you nonetheless.”
With this, we leave the room so that the leaders can speak among themselves. Kyou didn't say much during the meeting and even now she just looks upset, especially when looking at Dear, as if he has scattered the fields with sugar to attract ants. “Kyou?” I ask her, “ Is something wrong?”
“Just looking at a clear case of double standards.”
Dear turns to her: “Hah!?”
“What was that about 'Don't use your [Persuasion] on them!?”
“The moment I get more than 50 [Persuasion] we can start to talk, Miss [Persuasion] 214.” Ah yeah, they're talking about the [Persuasion]-attribute! I move my hand so I can focus to open my status, then I switch to Dear's... [Persuasion] 34... That's rather low, right?
Let's compare it to the rest! Mine is 206, so below Kyou's. Ara's 182, even lower than mine. Grekk shouldn't have one, as he's not a hero. So Dear is at least ahead of Grekk! I'm happy for him!
I'm less happy that Kyou and Dear are bickering. “Don't fight please.”
Kyou looks at me as if I asked a cat to stop eating meat, but after inhaling sharply, she stays quiet at least. ...I sure hope that she's not bottling things up, she really seems on the edge lately.
Maybe it's my fault? Because of me, she went through being captured by Instructor, after all.
I have no time to think about it though, as the moment Dear opens the door to the outside, we're surrounded by people cheering at us, or rather: At Dear.
Of course they would, as Dear gallantly rescued a child in need, and beat the invading barbarians. I'm so proud of him.
Look at the smiling faces, these people know that Dear is the best! His kindness, his helpfulness, his coolness! Even though he may try to hide it, he's showing these traits again and again and I love him for that!
I see Obert, who looks at Dear with wide eyes, thankful for his savior. He's even sweating out of excitement and despite his mother nudging him to say something, he's so tense that he can't even say a word. He even turns away, clearly unable to look at Dear. His heart has to be beating really fast, as he's already out of breath.
Kyou also looks at Obert, though she looks at him more as he's the sole survivor of a very unfortunate accident. On the other hand, Dear really dislikes bathing in the admiration of these people, pulling his hood over his face, trying his best to ignore the cheers and the kind words the farmers offer to him.
“Sorry.” I say to them, as Dear walks pass them in large steps, only stopping after finding a place where nobody would hear us. “Dear, are you alright?” I'm really concerned.
“No. What a bunch of idiots.”
“Why? They're just recognizing you.”
“They aren't. They're just trying to put me on a pedestal.”
“Of course they do. They admire you! You have saved a child! If that's not a person to look up to, who else would be?”
“Pff! Haven't you seen that turd? He's traumatized.”
“He could have been dead.”
“...” It looks like Dear wants to say something, but then decides to remain silent. I really want to know what he’s thinking at this moment...
“Lad,” Grekk chimes in: “No matter what you think, you did what you did. And from my standpoint, you did well.”
“Shut up! We need to talk about a bunch of whole other things. Let me be clear, I don't plan to stick to this until the bitter end. If things go south, just run away and I'll find all of you. Especially you, Rine!”
“Ah, how sweet!” As we're lovers now, he really wants to make sure I'm safe, even though I can defend myself.
“That's not what I mean! You're just the one who will most likely fight until the very end, and that's way too late. If you don't escape in time, then you'll endanger the rest of us as well! So don't do it! Promise me!”
“I won't!” If people need protection, I'll give it.
“Rine-chan?” Kyou will try to convince me, but this is a thing I can't bulge on, so I have to be firm and- “What is more important? The farm, or the people?”
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“The people of course.”
“And that's why it's important to lead them away the moment it becomes too dangerous for them. You know better what to do and when it's better to retreat than them, so you have to lead them by example.”
“Ah, that makes sense. That's what Dear meant!”
“Yeah, yeah, sure.” He's just bashful. “If boss-woman decides to keep a stand, there are some things we can do. First, I'll secure some escape routes, keep your backpacks on you every time and be prepared to run through the woods. Second, Rine and Ara-san will be in charge of creating a surveillance network.”
“How so?”
“Birds. Both of you can talk to animals, so let's abuse the hell out of them. Convince them to fly to you when they spot several people and tell you where they are. Birds can't be too hard to bribe, and that will give us some time. Jii-san, I'll show you the corpses of the barbarians, we're going to put them on display with a message.”
“Lad, I can't read or write. Most barbarians can't.”
“Then just stick with Rine and Ara-san instead and let them do the writing. And 'most barbarians' doesn't mean all of them, right? Ara-san, show him the corpses when you’re done with the birds, I really don’t want to waste time I can spend scouting.”
“Putting them on display!?” Kyou is very upset by it. “Like, as a warning!? What are you thinking!”
“I’m thinking about how we can get out of this alive, thank you for your concern! If we put each of them in a different spot, chances are that the corpses will be spotted by their scouts and they may take the message with them, which will simply be an offer to negotiate to limit the losses. Kyou-san, while we're busy, make sure to make more poultices and such, we'll need them.”
“Don't take too long, there is a rainstorm tonight.” Kyou can use [Weather Forecast], so we always know how to prepare. Though predicting rainstorms in Deepdrop is rather easy, especially so late in the month.
“Then let's not waste time. Tomorrow there will be more to do. Let's hope that the rain will wash away their tracks, so that they only know the direction their scouts vanished.”
―○●○―
“Phew...” I finished scouting and got a rough idea of the layout. There are plenty of places to hide in the area, as aside from the fields, there are woods, cliffs, small caves, and such. The wind has taken up, the smell of upcoming rainy weather fills the air. Is there a word for it? It sometimes reminds me of water and iron, but not really. Maybe it's something like ionized air?
Oh well, no reason to overthink it. While I wish the rain will stop tomorrow, this is reality: The weather doesn't care what you want.
Currently, I'm following the tracks of the barbarians from before, trying to find a general direction they came from to have better instructions for Ara-san and Rine to convey to the new recruits. I sure hope they can make it work, but if Rine can befriend cougars, bribing some birds to be a lookout should be easy. It's not like we need more than some seeds and berries, I imagine.
What a fairy tale princess. She speaks to animals, she dances, she sings, and she kicks everyone's ass with little effort. Point the one thing out that doesn't fit.
Hm... Strange. It seems like the barbarians changed direction here. Why, though? Here are rocks, barely any scrubs, and while the border of the forest area is in sight, there is a river down there, following it would make more sense to find people...
Looks like they looked for something here. It's easy to find, there is a long, thick rock sticking out of the ground with a < engraved on it, pointing to the forest. A marking. Yeah, boss-woman spoke of how the barbarians come here every now and then, so they have marked their routes or at least their goals. As this is in the middle of nowhere, nobody found it so far.
I could destroy the mark, but I think it's better to leave it. However, this will be a great spot to show our future bird spies. This area is good for birds of prey anyway.
However, if I redirect the mark, the barbarians may not find the farmstead or it may take so long that they give up... Nah, not after I killed their people, I guess. So let's make them give up otherwise.
The other problem is: Even if we get to that Tren-thing, will we be able to win it? Because of Jii-san's antics, I lost the chance to ask for the specifics. I need to do that later. Though before it even comes to it, we have to make them think that duking it out would be the worse option.
While thinking about this and that, I use [Farsight] to make sure I don't miss something close to this. I don't think tracking back more would really help, so I just want to wrap things up here and now.
People... a lot of them. With horses, giant lizards, and wagons. They're walking alongside the river, there seems to be a path there, though it's old. Judging from their ragged clothes and dirty skin, I guess more farmers. Especially considering that they have something like sheep and watchdogs with them, the sheep has strangely long necks though. Oh well, fantasy sheep.
If this would be a game, I'd probably have the options to either confront them or to leave. Instead, I take the option of following them for a while. While I have little terrain to hide, I have sheer distance which helps a lot already.
Around a quarter hour later, they find a ford and prepare the wagons to cross it. I can see old people on some of them, the others are covered with straw mats. There are adults and children, maybe a hundred people overall?
They're probably on the move because of the barbarians, and if I take the direction into account... Please don't tell me they're trying to get to boss-woman. There is a town a few days away, so maybe they're doing the sensible thing and get there?
Only one way to find out... I really don't want to, but it looks like crossing the ford will take a while, and I don't want to stay here for an hour or two.
I get closer, readying my bow and notching an arrow. They can be afraid of me, this will make it much quicker. I step in plain sight, shooting an arrow close to some of them to get their attention.
“WHA-” The man closest to the arrow cries out in surprise, but even if he'd been quieter, I'd still had heard it despite the distance.
That's also the reason why I can understand the people that notice me and point at me clearly. “It's him!”
“He's really here!”
“RED RANGER, YUHUUUUUU!”
WHAT THE FUCK! HOW DO THEY KNOW!?
“I told you Knudd was right!”
I DON'T KNOW WHO IT IS, BUT: THAT ASSHOLE!
Wait, wait, wait. They called me Red Ranger, and they shouldn't know it at all! Unless... unless... Could it be that the strange rumors are even spreading here!?
OK, just calm down, me. I just need to confirm my suspicion and if it's true, I have enough time to think about how to deal with it. “What do you want here?” I ask in a loud voice, as they don't have my hearing.
I wish I wouldn't hear the side-comments: “A true guardian, the moment we're here, he already knows.”
“It's an honor to meet you, Red Ranger!” An oldish man steps forward: “We're here to join forces with White Horst against the barbarians.” ...shit, if I recall correctly, that's boss-woman's farmstead. “After hearing about you being there, we bet all we have on you.”
Why? Why? Why-why-why-whywhywhywhywhy! “FUCK OFF!” That's the best answer I could muster.
“We know that we're not much. We also know that you prefer to shoulder everything yourself. Don't mind us, we'll support White Horst and you do whatever you need. If we can help in any way, don't hesitate to ask!”
Why? Why do they have a deluded reason ready that dismisses everything I say to shoo them away? Maybe I could shoot some of them to make them understand?
Is there anything worse? Well... falling down a cliff comes into mind. “Phew...” Alright, I can work with it, it doesn't change anything for the worse, in fact, having more people here can make it even more of a hassle for the barbarians to attack, and maybe the farmstead those people abandoned will satiate the needs of the barbarians, meaning that they’ll have little reason to attack the one I'm in.
Yeah, there is a bright side to it, let's just hope that- “It's not only us, Red Ranger. Word of you has been spread among all farmsteads. And what can barbarians do against the one who single-handedly defeated the Duke of Disaster and his minions and is the sworn enemy of Darkheart? They will come as well!”
Three questions: First, why are you so stupid to put your fates in the hands of a single person? Second, who are these people you're talking about? Third, what have I done to deserve that!?
―○●○―
Mirianne is busy taking care of the animals, basically by herself. It's tedious work, but she's neither strong enough to lift and carry the work materials for the stockade for extended periods of time, nor so old that she can only take care of the children.
At least she's not washing the cloth for more bandages or cooking for all the people here. It's not like she doesn't like the animals either, it's just that it's boring yet hard work, carrying buckets full of water to fill the troughs, carrying sacks of food, do the minimal needed care of the fur and such, and the most important part of all, keep all the animals in line despite the anxiety spreading.
There is something else. She glances again at the forest, thinking about Red. She hasn’t been able to strike a single conversation with him yet. He's always around that brutal blonde and the crazy elf. That's so unfair!
Wait, there he is, at the forefront of newcomers. She recognizes one of them, a young man. She can't remember the name or the farmstead he's from, but he's one of the farmer sons her mother tried to foist on her.
Mirianne was dragged to all the surrounding farmsteads at some point, and she hated it.
The farmers are welcomed by the others, and Red separates from them, looking for someone. This is her chance! Ah, she can't just leave it there... “Red! RED!” She shouts instead, hoping that Red will hear her despite the buzzing of the people around him.
He sighs, turns around to her, then sighs again. She runs up to him and then matches his speed to speak to him. Did he enter another battle? Surely. He also saved the people of the other farmsteads, because that's just the kind of man he is. “What is it?” He asks, and Mirianne realizes that he may be tired, as he sounds annoyed. “If you want to know what happened, literally everyone there can tell you.”
“That's not it.” Mirianne doesn't need to hear the stories, as she already knows everything about Red. “We just didn't have a chance to talk, you know... just the two of us?”
“Phew...” The sounds he makes sometimes are just so cute. “I'm looking for Rine or Ara-san, so unless you know where they are, there is little to talk about. Did they return?”
Why did he have to mention those girls? Searing rage and hatred bursts out of Mirianne's heart, an ugly feeling of inadequacy and jealousy. The elf calls herself Red's friend, acting like she really understands him like no one else, even though nobody knows Red as well as Mirianne! And that princess... calling herself his lover! That can't be, someone like her doesn't deserve to be with Red!
Yet how to answer Red's question? If she stays truthful and says 'no', then Red would go away. If she lies and says 'yes', she could act like guiding Red to them, which would mean walking with him around the farmstead, which she would really like, but in the end he would get angry and how could Mirianne call herself the one who understands him the most if she starts lying to him?
No, there is only the truth: “They aren't back yet... Would you like to help me with the animals? You'll learn when they arrive that way, as we have a good look at the whole farmstead.” This idea is genius.
“I hate animals.” This idea was dumb! So dumb! “Phew... guess I owe you that one though. Anything heavy to lift?”
Red is just so great! “Ah yes, the water.”
“OK.” His muscles start to swell, becoming more and more bulky, which makes him look even stronger and more reliable. “Where are the buckets?” Red is really kind.
While Red carries the heavy stuff, Mirianne brushes the animals, but this does little to alleviate their unrest, as usually they would be grassing or pulling. Most of them are not used to being kept on the farmstead during the day.
“Red, the animals need to move. They're not supposed to leave the farm, but if you accompany us, I'm sure...”
“You realize I'm still waiting for Rine and Ara-san?”
“...ah, right.” Here goes her chance to be really alone with Red.
Then he hits her where it hurts: “Listen, I don't want to sound ungrateful. I'm really appreciating that you cared for me when I was severely injured. But to be honest, I get some bad vibes from you, and whatever you think you know of me, it's utter bullshit.”
“But... but I do know you!”
“No, if you knew me, you would hate me. Because everyone does, and that's something I can deal with. Maybe nursing me made you think some strange ideas, maybe it's the fault of me being a hero—and I'm sure that when my [Luck] and [Persuasion]-stats work, they do so to make my life as miserable as possible—but whatever you have in your head, just let it go.”
Mirianne can't say anything, as the tears grow out of the corners of her eyes. This isn't true, Red is amazing and nobody could hate him! Why would he say that? Is it because Mirianne is a farmer girl? Or is it because he wants to protect her? Maybe he feels guilty because of his lover.
“Phew... I didn’t like popping your bubble, but better earlier than later. Still thanks for your help. I will make sure to repay it by protecting this place for a while. No idea how though. However, it’s time to look for Kyou-san. Take care.”
He leaves Mirianne alone.
Why, Red? Why? I care so much for you! There is no one in the world who does so much for you as I. Why? Why was I born here? Why haven't we met before you met that broad!? Red. Red. Red! Red! RED! RED!
...why won't you look at me?